( Len )

Comments made by Len

Statements to be taken with a box car of salt: "San Diego officials estimated the previous U.S. Open played in San Diego generated an economic impact of $142 million." Numerous studies show city officials (not just SD) wildly overestimate the dollar value of "name" sports events, as they do arguments for stadiums for which the owners want public money to build. The link, above, is to an entity of a business which markets golf, which makes it suspect, but even if its sales pitch is valid (operative word: "sales") it shows that golfers (and those who own courses or home developments incorporating courses) benefit from "tournaments." More could be done to "elevate" the city's "image" by spending tournament money instead on facilities for the homeless, seen sleeping on the streets, for example.

Dorit Reiss is, as always, a voice of reason among the hysteria by anti-vaccination proponents, who publish among other things the false " "There have been almost 1,000 reports of deaths related to the Dtap and Tdap vaccines over the last twenty-five years, and as many permanent disabilities..," In researching the HPV vaccine I learned--it took time and patience--that the many "reports" from many sources of horrible effects could be traced to a single fiction in a "religious" site (whose real fear was that girls would be wildly promiscuous once they were "safe" from HPV and, probably, cancer.)I am old enough to remember similar arguments against giving children Salk and Sabin vaccines, though polio was probably the disease parents feared most. Further back were screeds against measles vaccination. Even smallpox vaccination, which effectively eradicated it, was seen by the anti-vaccination cohort as a killer. That chiropractors don't get their children vaccinated (if it's true, which I doubt) isn't as compelling argument as is that pediatricians, almost all physicians, researchers, the CDC staff DO get them vaccinated.

@JeanMarc. Peking Duck didn't say that 98% of medical marijuana users are gaming the system. SDReefer did. There surely are people getting marijuana under false medical premises, but probably not as many as you think, given the wide range of problems, physical and psychological, it can help, a list that is growing with research. To expand on PD's point: If, say, 50% of those using prescription medications were found not to really need them, would you advocate closing pharmacies, drastically reducing their number and/or placing them at a far distance from those who need medications? It's not as though marijuana were guns, or liquor or driver licenses, where those who obtained them extra-legally could pose a danger to themselves or others. (But let's not revive the horse of the dangers of marijuana. That horse, if not dead, has been given last rites.)

@RLA. "Homeless" does not equal "bum" to those who are aware of the economy. That the government provides fewer services and protections can be laid at the feet of those who would, for example, rather shut down the government--at a cost to the economy of $24 billion--rather than cooperate to make it work.

@Anon11. That is not a "documentary," "mini" or otherwise. It is Penn (of Penn and Teller), in an episode of their TV show "B**lS**t," spouting his ultra-libertarian views. He cherry-picks his examples, ignores proven, well-documented studies that oppose his views, provides bluster instead of rational discourse. He and Teller are superb magicians and debunkers of "psychics" and other frauds, but he is as silly as Ron & Rand Paul politically.

@Jasonfleischer. Your points are correct, though Ms Trageser doesn't think so. There is a stupid belief in non-print media (mostly) that equal time/attention must be given to both sides of a matter, though one of them is absurd/disproved. One fully expects to find on an astronomy discussion that equal time is given to those insisting the earth is flat. (Well, it hasn't come to that, but close.) I suggest not considering KPBS-produced programs as reliable and factual. They vary from "everything has two sides" to "there is only one side." In the latter have been interviews about oil that had only a representative of that industry, a similar one about California electric power. Many times, it is apparent the host and/or producer has not done his/her homework.

@Muckapoo. " Remember: the Green party is the new home for the Commies." Both of them, or just one? @CalDefender. Bags are not free. They are part of the cost of doing business, reflected in the prices we pay. (Not that stores will pass on the savings if plastic bags are outlawed."Just a bit off topic: California must pocket most of the "deposit" charges for bottles. I've not been able to find a convenient place ro turn them in for a refund. I can't find that the deposit "profits" are earmarked for environment Does anyone know if there's such a provision, or does the money go into the general fund. It dates me, but I recall when stores were required to accept empties and refund deposits. (It was in NY, I don't know what the history is in Cal.) For many a kid, findings and turning in bottles were a source of cash for moviea, ice cream, and other essentials.